Robert & Dorah Yoder Newsletter (Spring 2021)

Greetings to you all in the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe God is with you and your families even in the midst of all that is going on around us in this world. We are doing great as a family and the base at large.

The Lord has been so good to us; indeed He will never leave us nor forsake us. We started our first term in this year February 15, 2021, just two days after Dorah and the kids flew back to South Africa while I stayed back in Zambia waiting for my visa, which never was approved. So we had 11 students to start with and two quit along the way and one has not reported back this second term which commenced on May 10. He said he cannot live without a phone because it is his life. So we now have eight students, including the new boy my wife just led to the Lord while I am writing this newsletter. We really thank God for His work among us. The term went well and this second term began with a day of prayer just to surrender the term into the hands of the Lord. Dorah did a great job while I was away and I really thank God for her life.

God has been our protector throughout. Richard Ndesaula, one of our “sons” who lives on the Zambia Teen Missions base, and I started off for South Africa on the 22nd of March. It was a road trip. We were excited about the trip so we drove up to the Livingstone border. The immigration people looked at my passport and my paperwork and said that I overstayed in the country, which was not my fault, and they gave me a penalty which means I cannot enter Zambia for six months (until September). “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” We were on the  Zimbabwe side and were told that the borders are still closed. We were not working so I told them then I don’t know where to go because I cannot go back to Zambia since I have a penalty. So Richard and I prayed asking God to intervene and for sure He did because after some hours of delay, we were on our way to South Africa. 

We were driving through the area where Teen Missions is in Zimbabwe around 8:30 pm when suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge cow appeared in the middle of the road right in front of us. We shouted “Jesus”. I had no option but to hit the cow. I stopped the truck and we noticed it had a huge dent, so now we said let’s get the cow out of the road. We looked under the truck and there was no cow. There was not even blood on the road. The only cows we saw were grazing so we walked nearby, looking for a bleeding cow, but didn’t find one.  God sent an angel by the name of “Promise” who was in the area and he stopped to ask what had happened and we told him. He said that this area is very dangerous, especially at night, so he quickly ran to his house and brought the chain so he could tow us. We went to the truck and started praying and suddenly a small van appeared which was carrying these guys who looked dangerous. As they were approaching us, you could sense danger and they slowed down almost to a stop. Then Promise was back and as soon as they saw the light, the bus fled. So that night Promise towed us to his house and gave us a bed to sleep in. By then the COVID tests had only a few hours before expiring when we crossed into South Africa. On the morning of March 25, we called the Zimbabwe base and the coordinator came to the accident scene and saw the truck, took a picture of it and then went to file a police report. I am still shocked, I have never seen such a huge cow in my life. 

This sounds strange, but in Africa it is a reality. This was my second time to see such. The first one I saw was in Zambia some years ago when I was going to pick up facilitators from Solwezi for Refresher. At about 6 pm a cow appeared on the road, but I was able to swerve around. Everyone on the truck was quiet that night until we got to the base and then we started asking each other what it was. So people had been doing witchcraft in the same area and believe that when you swerve away from a cow, you lose control and they come and steal from you. We really thank God for all our prayer partners known and unknown. We left Zimbabwe on a public bus that day and we were able to make it to SA before the COVID 19 test expired. The vehicle is being worked on now in Zimbabwe. Indeed God is our protector.

In conclusion, we as the Yoder family would like to extend our gratitude to all our faithful supporters, friends and family who have been supporting us and the work of God. We really appreciate it! Because of your support, we are able to get medical exams for our children since now they are on study visas. We are able to travel and do the work of the Lord and we have access also to go to the doctor when we are sick. Recently we had the flu and coughs going around in our house, but Elisha, our youngest son, could not get well. He missed school for almost two weeks so we decided to take him to the doctor and we found out he had an infection and Tonsillitis. He was put on antibiotics and now he is healthy. 

Thank you so much once again for all your generosity—may God richly bless you. Remember every act of love you do for us, the Lord notices. He sees and He will reward. We love you. Stay safe. Shallom

Prayer Requests.

As we go into our winter, may God just take the COVID situation away

Pray for us—for good health as we serve God

God’s protection and wisdom

Pray for the staff and students—that we will work diligently for the Lord

Ask God to bring those He has predestined to come and study here

Yours in His Vineyard,

Robert, Dorah, Esther, Ethan and Elisha

Isaiah 41:10

Hebrews 10:23